Tuesday morning update

It’s Fat Tuesday, also known as Shrove Tuesday, as well as “Post to Facebook What I’m Giving Up For Lent” Eve. If you’re looking for some good, wholesome entertainment that the entire family can enjoy this evening, allow me to recommend a show at the New Daisy. CRADLE OF FILTH, said to be the UK’s most visionary and hellish outfit, will play at 6 tonight in anticipation of their upcoming studio album, Hammer of the Witches. Tickets are $23-30. I tried to see if there is a discount ticket price for children under 12, but couldn’t seem to find one.

Now, I know most of you are probably not even reading this post anymore because your plans for tonight were set in stone by my first paragraph. However, for those three or four of you who are still with me, I will present a couple of other options for tonight: R5 plays the Cannon Center, and it’s the beginning of a week-long run for A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder at the Orpheum.

From the MBJ: A developer who owns seven pieces of property in The Edge, including the recently-acquired Wonder Bread factory, sees “Live, Work, Play” potential in the neighborhood. As someone who hangs out in bars a lot, the most exciting piece of news in the article to me is that the developer intends to fix up the former Kudzu’s fairly quickly. They then want to find an owner/operator who is interested in running a restaurant/bar in the space. It’s just a dream, but oh, man, I would love to see Aldo get his hands on that place. Something that’s kinda halfway between Bardog and Slider Inn sounds perfect for that location and that neighborhood.

There’s an Afro-Cuban Valentine’s Day Dinner art Art Village Gallery, 410 S. Main, from 7 to 9 PM Saturday. Nigerian chef Hilda O. will prepare a 5-course dinner with African and Cuban influences. She made a Nigerian side dish at WREG Live at 9.

NOT GOOD: Climate change threatens the growth of hops, a key ingredient in beer.

The Flying Saucer is having a Saucer Gras party tonight. There will be cask tappings by Abita Brewing Company, along with king cake and beads.

From the New York Post: Matt Barnes gets revenge on recently fired Knicks coach Derek Fisher on Instagram without even saying a word.

Madison Cypress Lakes Apartments is seeking a leasing consultant. Experience pulling cars out of lakes is a plus.

I found a couple of articles from Lifehacker worth sharing. First of all, new app Notarize lets you get documents notarized straight from your phone. You’ll need your driver’s license, and it costs $25 compared to the handful of bucks it would cost in person; but if you’re busy or pressed for time, this could be really convenient.

Also from Lifehacker: Spot a liar by increasing their cognitive load with open-ended questions. Very true and I will throw in an additional piece of advice: If you believe someone is lying to you, try to use text or a chat platform for as many of your conversations as possible. Anything they say face-to-face can be denied later, and you have to have permission to record phone conversations. With text and chat, however, a history is automatically created, giving you a paper trail.

For those of you who also #FeelTheBern, there will be a grand opening for Bernie Sanders’ campaign office at 2986 Poplar on Saturday, February 13 from 11:30 AM to 5 PM. Party begins at 12, training for canvassing at 3, door-knocking at 4. This event is family-friendly and there will be a kids’ lounge with games and toys.

I have also read that the circus is coming to town between now and the Tennessee primary. Donald Trump will give Tennessee political leaders a 24-hour advance notice of when he plans to bring his unique brand of racism and demagoguery to Memphis.

Time to head to work. I get to play with some cutting-edge stuff today, so I am kind of looking forward to today. Possibly a second post at lunch or after work, so check back.

Monday update

What a waste of a weekend. I have been trying to kick a sinus infection that I have had for a week and a half. As of this morning it is officially gone, but I had to sleep 12 hours Saturday night and through the last three quarters of the Super Bowl Sunday night to make it happen.

I always have weird dreams when not feeling well. Last night I dreamed I opened a joint checking account with the Oregon Ducks mascot. No idea why.

Article that is worth a read if you’re into Memphis music: Rodd Bland is bridging the gap between blues old and new. The son of Bobby “Blue” Bland and the godson of B.B. King was asked to lead the procession carrying Lucille at King’s funeral.

The Grizzlies are having an Islamic Heritage Night Sunday, March 6. There will be a post-game event on the court for an hour and a half following the game.

Our BBQ teammate from Monclova, Mexico, Mardoqueo (Kao for short), is in town for a week. We told him, “You have to try Maciel’s Tortas and Tacos on the Main Street Mall,” we told him. “It seems like authentic Mexican to us, but we want to hear it from you.”

So, Saturday, Kao went in. “I spoke to the owner in Spanish,” he told me. “All the recipes are his grandmother’s. An older chef taught him the ways of the North American customer. The food is the real deal. Their salsa is homemade, which is a big plus. I had the Cuban torta. Very generous portions of everything. I hadn’t eaten lunch and had trouble finishing it.” There you go. Authentic Mexican, certified by a Mexican.

The Grizzlies host the Portland Trailblazers tonight at 7 at FedExForum.

@SRiley_WREG3 reported that a committee is considering addressing panhandling in Memphis the way Albuquerque does, offering panhandlers a chance to work for a day rather than issuing them a citation. I don’t think that would completely solve Memphis’ panhandling problem but it is a step in the right direction.

All right. Flurries are possible this afternoon so I better get to Kroger. BREAD AND MILK, MILK AND BREAD! I will be out at the usual places after work.

Roundup of Downtown Super Bowl specials

Here’s a quick roundup of Super Bowl specials at Downtown bars. This is based on social media posts, what I remember seeing on chalkboards at the bars, and Holly’s Super Bowl post (which covers all of Memphis, not just Downtown).

By the way, advice to bar owners: If you’re running Super Bowl specials, why the heck wouldn’t you put them on social media? It’s not like it costs you any extra to use Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for that purpose. Posting them the day of is fine, but why not post them several days in advance as well? There’s not an additional fee for posting the same info twice, after all. Gives people time to talk to their friends about your specials, and decide that yours is the place to go. Also, it gives bloggers like me time to find the information and round it up in one big post like this one.

5 Spot is having a party from 4 to 9. A $10 arm band guarantees you a seat and food and drink specials. Specials include $1 off beer, wings, Ferraro’s Pizza, Bumblebee Stew, chips and dip, and meat and cheese platters. They will also have Carolina Sweet Tea vs. Denver Orange Crush shooters.

Bardog has 50 cent wings and $1.50 sliders during the game.

B.B. King’s: $2.50 Bud Light and Miller Lite pints; $3 Fireball; $3.50 domestic bottles; $4 well cocktails; $15 domestic beer buckets (5 bottles); $5 baskets: mini corn dogs, jalapeno poppers, boneless wings, fried pickles, catfish bites; $6 Nacho Papi Nachos (plain, chicken, or pork); $7 sandwiches with fries: cheeseburger, pulled pork, hickory chicken, catfish poboy; $10 Big Game Sampler, a combo of mini corn dogs, jalapeno poppers and boneless wings; $20 for the Big Game Sampler plus a bucket of four bottled domestic beers.

Blind Bear has $5 chips, cheese dip, and salsa; $7 hot dog covered with cheese and Colin’s award winning chili, with pepper jack mac & cheese; 16-ounce aluminum bottles of Bud and Bud Light 1 hour before, during, and up until 1 hour after the game.

The Brass Door will have a $7.50 BBQ chicken plate, $3 Panthers and Broncos cocktails, and $3.50 Memphis Made Lucid, High Cotton ESB, and Brooklyn Lager. $10 for 6 mixed beer buckets.

Coyote Ugly will have $2 domestics and $4 Fireball.

Double J will be doing a raffle both upstairs and downstairs. Every beer bucket you buy will get you a raffle ticket. Drawings will be done at halftime and the end of the game, with prizes including a smoker, T-shirts, and cornhole boards.

Flying Saucer has $3.50 drink specials during the game, as well as a buffet.

Huey’s will have $3.50 Bud and Bud Light aluminum bottles, 2-for-1 selected drafts and 2-for-1 well drinks. Eagle Distributing will be at the Downtown location 9:00-10:30 to sample some of their new 16-ounce aluminum bottles, and they will have swag to give away.

Kooky Canuck has 50 cent wings (dine in only) and $3.99 34 oz. Labatt Blue Canadian draft beer.

Local has complimentary Cool Ranch Doritos on every table. There will be Smoked Meat sandwich specials, as well as beer bucket specials and table taps.

Max’s Sports Bar will have a ton of giveaways including shirts, a fancy cooler, and a Tin Roof Brewery neon sign. PBR is always $2.50 at Max’s.

Tin Roof will have $3 Fireball, beer bucket specials, and wing & nacho specials. Each shot you buy gets you a square on the board, with prizes awarded at the end of each quarter and the end of the game.

Tug’s will have happy hour specials 3 to close, and a $25-100 gift card drawing every hour. Give email address or Like the restaurant on Facebook and be present to win.

In other news, happy DIRTY 30 to my favorite vegetarian Katie. This is not Katie Mac or Katie (not Mac) who get mentioned on here from time to time. This is the Katie for whom we made a vegetarian version of our Anything But burger at Best Memphis Burger Fest 2015. Vegetarians love the Moody Ques!

P1070397

P1070435

Katie and her friend Staci (pictured below) called me about 9:30 last night. Unfortunately I had taken NyQuil and gone to bed early to try to fight off a sinus infection that has plagued me for the past week, resulting in one of the most incoherent phone conversations ever. Katie said she will be in town next month.

P1070369

Today I will lead off at Blind Bear at 11 as usual. However, at this moment I am completely undecided about where to watch the Super Bowl. The easiest option would be to stay at the Bear and watch the big game. The other option, and a very appealing one, is to head south to Max’s Sports Bar, which I feel like is where I should be watching the game. It will be a game time decision (literally) and friends will have a lot of power to influence me.

Gonna go ahead and get this posted so people have plenty of time to read. If I missed anything email me at paul@paulryburn.com in the next couple of hours and I will add. Will not be near a computer from 11 AM on.

Saturday update

I’ll start off today’s post with some food porn: Here’s a link to an image of the Strawberry Cheesecake Crepe with a side of Chocolate Gelato from Scoops Parlor, the new crepe and gelato parlor on G.E. Patterson across the street from Cheesecake Corner and Max’s Sports Bar.

Barry Manilow plays FedExForum Wednesday at 7 PM. He will tour with guest saxophonist Michael Lington. Call 800-745-3000 to order tickets, which start at $19.75.

There will be a Mardi Gras parade on Beale Street Tuesday at 5 PM.

On Tuesday, February 16 there will be a $10 beer bust at the New Daisy featuring local beer and a battle of two bands, Dead Soldiers vs. Heels. There will also be a VIP lounge with Ranch spa and Pancho’s cheese dip isolation tank. I have no idea what that means, just copied it from Facebook.

Central BBQ is opening a catering kitchen at 239 Jefferson. Their catering volume has gotten so big that it is getting cramped to do it out of one of their three restaurants. That is a nice problem to have.

I don’t know if I have any readers out there who consider themselves feminists, but on the off-chance that I do, here’s a read for you: The Petticoat Rebellion of 1916

MPD unveiled a new station at 444 N. Main this week. The building is also the MATA North Main Terminal and a drop-off point for Megabus, and it is visible from the Pyramid, giving the police a big presence in the area. The new station replaces the South Main Station, where officers did not have enough rooms to do their jobs as best they could. The detective unit has moved from 201 Poplar into the new station, allowing tighter integration between that unit and other officers.

Time to start the weekend. Bardog is my first stop, with four more planned after that. Back tomorrow.

Fri update: Gumbo crawl, V-Day partner yoga, Grizzlies promotions tomorrow and more

Beale Street will be doing a Gumbo Crawl on Fat Tuesday, February 9, from 11 AM to midnight. Many restaurants on Beale claim to have the best gumbo, but who’s truly qualified to judge? You are.

The way it works is, you go to the Beale Street spots of your choice and order gumbo. You then leave a vote in the jug indicating which restaurant serves the best. Each vote costs $1, benefiting the Church Health Center. (Note: The way I read the press release, each VOTE is a dollar. You still have to pay regular price for the gumbo. Beale Street officials, if I am wrong email me at paul@paulryburn.com and I will issue a correction.)

Downtown Yoga is offering a special partner yoga class for Valentine’s Day, Sunday, February 14 from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM. Register here (note that the class is more than a week out, so you will need to click the NEXT> button at the top to see it). Cost is $20 per person. The fee includes the yoga class as well as wine and sweets afterward. Beginners are welcome.

Hey B-RAD, Rahul and Tony said to tell you that they will be late getting to brunch on the 14th. “We’ll be there about 1:35, 1:40,” is what they told me. They didn’t offer an explanation as to why they would be late.

Tomorrow, Saturday, February 6, is a big night with the Grizzlies. They play Dallas at FedExForum at 7 and there are a couple of promotions going on. If you are one of the first 4000 fans in the gate, you get the second piece of “Mt. Grizzmore,” Mike Conley (without the mask). Tony Allen was the first piece, handed out earlier this year, with Z-bo and Marc Gasol still to come. Here’s a look at the complete Mt. Grizzmore set.

It’s also one of those nights when there is a ticket to a special craft beer tasting, this month featuring local brewery Wiseacre. Your ticket cost gets you a seat to the game, beer tastings, and a commemorative pint glass. The event starts at 5 PM, two hours before the game. The special ticket is $97.50 for a club level seat, with terrace level seats starting at $43. Note: Today is the deadline to order the beer tasting ticket. Here’s more info and how to order.

Supervalu, the parent company of Save-a-Lot, is interested in the former Kroger location at 544 Jackson.

Southern Living released its 2016 list of the South’s best bars. Number 17 was Earnestine & Hazel’s.

Keep up with what is going on with the city of Memphis. Sign up for weekly emails from the mayor here.

Daaaamn. Johnny Manziel got fired by his agent.

Max’s Sports Bar is giving away free stuff during the Super Bowl including a fancy cooler, shirts, and a neon brewery sign.

eighty3 is running a crawfish po’boy and gumbo lunch special today through Fat Tuesday for $15. That looks like a huge sandwich.

Those of you who have visited the Center for Southern Folklore’s Memphis Music and Heritage Festivals will be sad to learn of the passing of Minnie Bell. An elder of the Choctaw community, Minnie and her family taught basket-making, cooking and more at the festivals.

Off to run errands. Possibly a second post this evening.

Mangia! Mangia! Plus more Thursday news (update #2)

The eighth in the series of the Ten ’til Ten dinners has been announced by the Majestic Grille. These dinners are a countdown to the Majestic’s 10th anniversary this year, and each has a different theme.

The next one in the series will be at 6 PM on Tuesday, February 23, and it will be an Italian feast. It will be a multi-course meal, each dish served family style like they do it back in the Old Country. An Italian wine will be paired with each course. $65 per person plus tax and gratuity. Reservations must be made in advance by phone at 901-522-8555.

There will be a Mardi Gras celebration benefiting Grace House at the New Daisy this Saturday at 10 PM. Grace House is a licensed non-profit treatment center where women can get help with alcohol abuse, drug abuse, and mental disorders. Epic, JJ Wilson, Mylon Webb, Tree, and others will perform. $15 cover.

Children’s performance Moon Mouse happens tomorrow night, Friday, February 5, at the Orpheum at 6:30. Marvin the Mouse, stepping away from the “cool” rats who label him a loser and a geek, engulfs himself in his science books. He ends up building a rocket that takes him on the adventure of a lifetime.

One of my vegetarian friends tweeted about banana milk today. It’s a drink you can make at home that is an alternative to liquids like almond milk for vegetarians and vegans who don’t drink animal milk. Damn, that actually sounds pretty good! You can make it at home, and unlike almond milk, there are no preservatives. As a fruit-based milk, it may be more digestible to some than nut-based ones. As an option, you can blend in soaked oats for a drink that tastes like banana bread in a glass.

Speaking of liquids… one of my friends has recently had to switch from Miller Lite to PBR to cut costs. “Damn it, Pauly,” he told me. “For years I have looked down on PBR and thought of it as a shit beer. But now that I’ve gotten used to it, I have to admit you’ve been right all along. It’s pretty tasty.”

Groundbreaking for South Main Artspace Lofts will begin May 1. The live/work space for artists will be available to those making less than 60% of the median Shelby County income. The reasoning behind the need for the space, explained by Artspace’s vice-president of community development, is that artists may only be deriving a small portion of their income from doing the work they love.

Highly relevant tweet given what week this is, and so true:

Here’s a blog post of party snacks for the perfect party host, some with suggested pairings with local Memphis craft beers.

Back tomorrow with another post. I still have plenty in my queue of news, but I need to get this post published and get out to happy hour. Silly Goose bound.

Exciting fresh produce news and more

As longtime readers of this blog know, I am a huge fan of fresh produce. If you are too, I have some very exciting news to share with you today. Whitton Farms, located about 30 miles from Downtown Memphis, is doing CSAs for 2016. What’s a CSA? It’s a subscription service where on a weekly basis, you can receive a bag of veggies and fruits, or a bag of floral items, fresh from the farm. You can pick up your bag Thursdays from 7 to 9 PM at Trolley Stop Market, or Saturdays 7 AM to 1 PM at the Memphis Farmers Market. Information on how it works and how to sign up can be found here. Limited to 50 subscribers. The farm does not use synthetic herbicides, pesticides, or fertilizers.

This is going to make the Farmers Market feel like I’m opening Christmas presents every week this year. “Ooooh, this week I got some turnips! And some basil! And some eggplant too!” I am so jazzed about this!

UConn is in town to play the Memphis Tigers tonight. The game is at 8:00 and will be nationally televised on ESPN2.

Want to volunteer for Memphis in May? There will be a volunteer expo Thursday, February 18 from 6 to 8 PM at Central Station.

Tennessee Comic Con is Saturday and Sunday at the Cook Convention Center.

Article from the Flyer worth a read: The 1917 lynching of Eli Parsons, a part of Memphis history that few people knew about, until now. I have lived in this city almost 30 years and I had not heard of this before. Scary to think that 3000 people gathered for the lynching, and little kids skipped school so they could watch with their families.

Very good news: Google goes to war against fake download buttons. I hate those. I have downloaded malware a couple of times because I clicked on the wrong button trying to download a legit piece of software.

Very happy to hear about the success of Preteckt, a startup company that is a 2014 graduate of Start Co.’s Seed Hatchery. Preteckt’s software monitors all parts of a truck, predicting part failures up to a month in advance. This predictive ability increases uptime and profitability. Recently carriers Expediter Services and Trans-Carriers contracted to install the software in their fleets. These two significant contracts allowed Preteckt to raise an additional $300,000 to further develop its software. Apply for one of Start Co.’s 2016 accelerators and you may receive $25,000 in funding for your startup business.

Reminder to my Moody Ques teammates: We need you to go to our team website and pay your dues using the Paypal widget on the right sidebar (if you’re viewing it on a screen) or at the bottom of the page (mobile). We are reaching the point in the season when we have to write some significant checks and need dues money. Thanks to the early birds who have already paid.

RIP Jack Eaton. Here’s a clip of Big Jack calling the action as Jerry “The King” Lawler battles AWA World Champion Nick Bockwinkel in 1979.

Out of time and I still have a ton of news, making a second post today downright likely. Look for it about 5:30 (if I do it before going out) or 11:30 (if I do it after I get home).

Wed update

This one is going to be kind of short, but hey, I did post 4 times yesterday, including a food review.

This has been all over social media yesterday and today, but in case you missed it, Nashville-based television network CMT is turning Million Dollar Quartet into a TV series, and it will be filmed here in Memphis. There is a casting call in town February 13 if you are interested in being on the series. Those auditioning are asked to show up with 1950s attire and hairstyle.

The Chippendales perform at the New Daisy tonight at 8:30. $25-65 tickets.

From Toyland: If you’re lucky, this site will turn your rescue dog into a free plush toy. The catch is that they get the right to use your dog’s image to sell retail copies of the toy.

Good idea: Sell your vacation photos to help offset the cost of the trip

There’s a park ranger job open with Shelby County.

All right, time to go run errands and then mess around with XML this afternoon. I was so tired I missed Charvey at the Silly Goose last week but tonight I plan on making it. He plays from 10 PM to 1 AM.

Kale Caesar salad with garlic lime tofu add-on @ LYFE Kitchen

No kidding, I really ate this.
No kidding, I really ate this.

LYFE Kitchen, the new healthy restaurant in the Chisca, opened yesterday. The deal with LYFE is that they serve no dish over 600 calories and are known for having plenty of options for vegetarians, vegans, and those preferring a gluten-free meal. I didn’t get in there for the opening yesterday, but with the rain we had tonight I saw an opening. “Surely the place won’t be too busy in this weather.”

Indeed it wasn’t. I got there about 5:45 and a server asked if I’d ever been to LYFE Kitchen before. I said I hadn’t and she steered me in the direction of Art’s Unfried Chicken, chicken with a side of a mixture of brussels sprouts, butternut squash, dried cranberries, a cashew cream sauce, and Dijon vinaigrette. It sounded appealing but I had already looked at the menu online, and I knew what I wanted. I was determined to get as far outside the box as I could at this place.

“I’ll have the kale Caesar salad, with an add-on of garlic lime tofu,” I told the cashier. He offered to make it gluten-free or vegan if I wanted, but I had my limits. I thought about saying “extra gluten” but I wasn’t sure if that was a real thing. I got a freshly-squeezed classic lemonade to drink.

They gave me a number to take to my table, and I looked around. One thing you might not know is that LYFE serves alcohol. They have a bar with two large flat-screen TVs, with local craft beer on tap and they can make fresh versions of most common cocktails.

Although they are still learning the registers, which is understandable given it is the second day, the service was great. No less than six different employees, including the GM, came up to me. They wanted to be sure I liked my food, and they let me know that if there was anything they could do for me, all I had to do was ask. I definitely felt welcomed there.

As for the salad, let’s just say I thought waaaaayyyyy outside the box ordering it. I’m not opposed to ordering vegetarian items, but usually they are not way too different from what I normally eat. I’ll get the Button Man (veggie slice) at Aldo’s Pizza Pies; a version of one of the burgers made with a veggie patty at Huey’s; the bean nachos at Maciel’s. The kale Caesar with tofu, though, was the exact opposite of my regular diet.

Don’t get me wrong – if you’re into that kind of thing I think you would enjoy it at LYFE. They used quality ingredients including cherry tomatoes, parmesan, broccoli, romaine, and baby kale. There was absolutely nothing wrong with my salad, and the addition of fresh cracked pepper (on every table) helped. It’s just that if anything, I learned that the next time I go to LYFE, I should stick to items more in line with my traditional diet. like the unfried chicken the server recommended, or the Farmhouse burger made with 100% grass-fed beef.

Give LYFE Kitchen a try; I think you will like it. If I had one minor criticism of the place, it would be that it was a bit too warm in there.It wasn’t unbearable but it was mid to upper 70s inside. I know it sounds ridiculous to turn on the air conditioner on February 2, but it was in the 60s and humid outside and the place would have been more enjoyable had it been cooled off a bit.

In the after-LYFE I walked north to Blind Bear and sat at the bar and watched basketball. I didn’t play Tuesday night poker because it would keep me up too late. Walking home, I stopped at City Market and looked in their grab & go. They had two chicken tenders with honey mustard for dipping for $3.49. If you want to have the best chicken tenders EVER, have them as a late-night snack after kale and tofu for dinner.

4 posts in one day. I guess that’s enough. Off to bed.

Tue update #3

If your sweetheart is a Redbirds fan, you can purchase a custom Valentine’s pack to be delivered by mascot Rockey on Thursday, February 11 or Friday, February 12. There’s a Sweetheart pack ($75) with 6 chocolate-covered strawberries and 2 dugout tickets to the Saturday, April 9 game which is the first post-game fireworks of the season. There’s also a Cupid package ($100) that contains the items in the Sweetheart package plus a half-dozen roses from Lynn Doyle Flowers. Rockey can only make 40 deliveries, so contact Marketing coordinator Savara Linsdey at 901-722-0285 as soon as possible if interested. Noon on Monday, February 8 is the deadline to order and recipients must live within 30 miles of AutoZone Park.

The Commercial Appeal reports that Arepa & Salsa out in the Edge is being replaced by a restaurant called Sabor Caribe on March 1.

Scoops Parlor, a gelato and crepe shop, will open in South Main this week at 106 G.E. Patterson. That’s in the old Harry’s Detour location across from Max’s Sports Bar and Cheesecake Corner.

Holly from the I Love Memphis Blog reports that there will be a Black Restaurant Week in Memphis March 7-13. It will work similarly to Downtown Dining Week, with restaurants offering special menus. Downtown participants include DeJaVu and The Office @ Uptown. Full list of participating restaurants will be released this week.

Next Tuesday, February 9, the South Main Association will have its monthly meeting in the Central Station Boardroom. Alex Turley of Turley Company and Archie Willis of Community Capital will discuss South End and South City, and what these new communities mean to the historic arts district. Social at 6, program at 6:30, with catering by Hard Rock Cafe and beverages by SMA. Free for members, $10 for non-members.

The Memphis Business Journal reports that millions of dollars are available as the city works to fill in the gaps Downtown.

If you live in Southaven or Horn Lake, eat at the Hardee’s at Goodman and Interstate Blvd. this week. It opens tomorrow and they are donating 10 percent of the first week’s sales to St. Jude. (credit I Love Memphis)

Home from work, having just missed the rain. Since I don’t have a regular happy hour bartender on Tuesday, I think I may try to go find something new and different to eat before I get out to the bars. Back tomorrow.